June 2017: When the kids outnumber the adults and the plans go wonky.

[Tallent]

We love our trips to Disney--and by 'we' I mean me, ds and dd. Dh could take it or leave it but he definitely leaves it when we plan a trip in the summer. He doesn't like heat--at all--much less summer in Fl heat. Now that dd is in hs and ds in ms that's pretty much the only time we go. He's good with not minding these trips as we still take a whole family trip during the summers as well.

Quick introductions: I'm Rachel a Kindergarten teacher (so the summer is my oyster ) a a wife, and a mama to 2. DD is 15 and a freshman in HS while DS is just about 12 and a 6th grader in middle school.

DD has had her best friend/soul sister for 4 years now, and her family has been very generous in including dd in their family trips (cruise, bahamas, etc). We aren't in the same position but do dinners, weekends, etc. This year though I was able to include her in our Disney plans so there are 2 very happy 15 year olds. My 12 year old ds though notsomuch. Lots of 'it's not fair!' "I want to bring a bring!' type conversations. And to be honest I did think about letting him bring a friend (they were going to pay for their own ticket airfare and food) for a minute but me with 3 kids is enough to make my head spin much less 4. He'll get his turn.

We call Coronado Springs 'home' but with our group I felt I'd need a bit more room. Plus there's the construction.So we're bumping up to deluxe for this go round. Not a huge difference btw Poly and BC--only there for 7 days so don't want to do a split stay (plus we're on ddp) ----decided to give the kids the choice:

*great resort, on monorail, really nice pool (readoly)
*great resort, really great pool (read: BC)

They took the pool! So we booked Beach Club (requested a day bed but know it's not guaranteed), June 24-July 1, customized magic bands, got park hoppers along with ddp, made our adrs, and I thought we were all set till the fp booking window.....

Until Volleyball got in the way. Cue record scratch.

Both girls play club volleyball on the same team. AAU is held in Orlando in June at ESPN and the convention center, and it's the week right before our trip. It's decided that their team won't go. Phew!
But thennnnnnnn, the other 15s team IS going and they need 3 players. Girls ask to try out---they go--and what do you know, they each get a spot (my dd is an outside hitter but plays all around and her bestie is a middle). Time to change the plans.

Now we are going through the Disney Sports people to book great rates ($92 for pop or as sports, !$127 for CBR)---CBR has too much closed and the double beds at the values kill it for the majority of the parents. (I wasn't thrilled but to be in the bubble for an extra week I would have done it no questions asked)

Should we stay in a house, WBC, Disney, off site? The parents have a meeting with our laptops in tow and after going through lots (and LOTS) of options it's decided that we'll stay at the Residence Inn Seaworld for the week.

Great! But what to do with DS who will DIE (he says) if A)he has to go to 4 day tournament and B) He has to be around 'all the girls!" for that long a time. Okaaaaaayyyy.....

SO, we change our Disney dates at BC without problem, get some new ADRS, and change our flights. It's decided that ds will fly down on his own and I'll get him at the airport at the gate and we'll move on. Volleyball will be just about done and we'll be ready to get down with our Disney trip.

Volleyball ends on the 22nd and our Disney trip starts on the 23rd. Hmmmmm, do I really want to stay at the residence inn an extra night and battle morning traffic on the way to the world? NOPE. So I check with my TA to see what rates they're offering at which resorts. I can stomach the reduced cost of AKL and I've never stayed there so I can check another resort off of my list!


If you've followed along this far---thank you!---and here is the overall plan:
June 18 Fly from BWI to Orlando and grab rental car.
June 19-21 Volleyball, volleyball, volleyball. Pick up ds at airport.
June 22 Bracket play with single elimination. I'm not a bad mom if I hope we can boogie out of there early, am I?
Check in to AKL, get some pool time, cs dinner and return car. Maybe Starlight Safari or just some regular night viewing.
June 23 Let the Disney Times Begin!!!


And now a more specific breakdown of the trip....
(Note: Sleep in is more for the kids--and basically means up around 9 though depending on the day it can also mean 10--cuz teens lol)

June 23 (AKL) Send luggage to BC, (pack bathing suits in bag to take to park in case room isn't ready later)
Animal Kingdom, pre park opening breakfast, leave by noon, check in to Beach Club, pool, Girls own evening, Studios w DS,

June 24 Sleep in, Epcot, pool, rest/explore, MK rides & fireworks

June 25 MK, pool, MK

June 26 Sleep in, Epcot and WS, pool Studios? 5 PM Disney Quest with ds, shopping.

June 27 sleep in, 9:30 uber to typhoon lagoon (leave by 2ish), break, Studios

June 28 Sleep in, Disney springs (or park of choice for girls and Jack/me), pool, pack, MK pm till closing (emh),

June 29(Checkout) sleep in, Studios, MK, (ME ~6) (maybe use express bus on this day)

 

[Tallent]

In the past we've done matching mickey head tie-dye shirts but now that the kids (dd) are older that's a no go. :-(

So I improvised and got this tank top for her and her friend. Thank you Etsy! (They've arrived and look exactly as pictured)

l


DS is still on board with mickey head tie dye even if we aren't all in so he chose his colors (dk blue, dk yellow and dk green) and he got this one.



Not sure yet what I'm doing but so far we've got some mismatched matching going on lol

On to Garden Grocer list making!

 

[Tallent]

FOOOOOOD!

I'm a Garden Grocer fan (though I will be looking in to the Amazon Pantry service soon...) and typically get breakfast foods, wines by the glass, fruit, crackers, half and half for coffee, waters, diet cokes, juices etc. I factored the eating habits of my kids, the heat, menus and prices, etc. when looking at the ddp and in the end I believe the cost difference was about $30. For that, I decided to roll the dice and go for the ddp for the 6 nights. So, we'll have 6 cs meals, 6 ts meals and 2 snacks a day per person plus the refillable mugs. We'll see how it works out!

Our ADRS (using the ddp this time):

June 23 Animal Kingdom 8am @tusker house (I love this breakfast)
Studios 8:15 Star Wars fireworks party


June 24 5:45 Chef Mickey (DS Request)


June 25 8:10 be our guest oop for one, 12:25 crystal palace (DD request)


June 26 8pm T-REX dinner (DS Request)


June 27 5:40 Mama Melrose (DD request)


June 28 5:15 1900 Park Fare (My choice)


June 29 None

 

[Tallent]

And just like that my mind is blown.


In the car yesterday, ds and I were talking fp planning for next week and dh casually pipes in with, 'maybe I'll go"----What the what? I asked him if he was serious and he was. Deadly. Now he won't go to the parks but will just come to 'hang out, read a book...'----so for now I'll just have to add him to the reservation which is no biggie. I'm going to make sure he's really down for this though before booking his airfare.

 

[Tallent]

Well that was an interesting surprise....I logged on to my account to check in to AKL for the 22nd and whaddya know, my FPs were ready to be booked. The site had told me that today, the 24th, was my FP day but they were ready yesterday at 2pm. Yay! That Yay! being said, I felt like I stumbled through them this time---questioning times and so on. Typically we are pretty 'flexibly structured' but this year with the kids being older I feel like there's a lot more flexible and a lot less structure.

I wasn't going to book an Avatar FP (or even go that way in the park) but ended up doing the Banshee ride along with EE and Kali. Hoping the line for Safari isn't too long but it's an 8am opening and we'll be there around 9:30/10ish. Then going to try for Dinosaur, Flights of Wonder (gotta find that schedule) and Primeval Whirl before calling it a day and heading to check in at BC and swim.

 

[Tallent]

Soooo in FP news, my crew has decided that doing anything related to Avatar is not necessary this time. "We'll do it next year" says ds who knows there's always a 'next year' lol Gotta say it's fine with me too. I really just have no interest....

I'll be posting my fp and plans later on today.....

 

[Tallent]

June 22 This is an easy day to plan. The girls will have volleyball playoffs sometime in the morning/early afternoon. We'll have already packed the car so once they are done (usually single elimination) we will head right over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We will only be there for the one night so went with Standard View. We did request bunk beds but we'll see how it goes. Our plan is just to swim, relax, probably just eat CS or order a pizza before heading to bed. See? Easy!

 

[Tallent]

June 23 The fun begins!!

Can you tell I've finally figured out how to use the fonts and colors?


So I'm not being super mean and making the kids get up toooo early. But we'll get up, have a light cs breakfast or something from the grab n'go section before heading over to Animal Kingdom. We are so close on this day so decided it would be our first day park. We won't be checking out anything Pandora on this trip so hope to avoid BIG crowds and stick to the regular ol' big crowds. Backing up---first we'll stop in the lobby to have our bags sent over to Beach Club. I don't usually bring a bag to the parks but today I'll have one with some sunscreen and our bathing suits in it.

Normally we do a few morning rides before using fps but today we will sleep in a bit and head over in time to use our first FP at Safari (8:45-9:45 but will prob use it closer to 9). After that we'll stroll over to Expedition Everest (9:45-10:45)--a ride I've never been on (by choice) but I swore to ds that I'd ride it with him this time. Gulp. If I survive that ride and don't need any specialized recovery time, then we'll do whichever Trek is closest to the exit since we always say we're going to do one but never do it. Kali is our last fp from 10:45-11:45 (why does it have to be soooo short??) To wind down the morning, depending on the time and FP availability we'll try for Dinosaur! and Primeval Whirl before calling it a day.

And that'll be that for AK today. We plan to head over to Beach Club to check in. If our room isn't ready then we'll head to the pool. Member that bag I don't normally carry to the parks? The main reason for staying at Beach Club this trip is for Stormalong Bay!

We'll hang out in the pool area till late afternoon and hang out in the room for a bit when it's ready. No dinner plans on this night--the girls will be able to do whatever their little hearts desire on this evening. Stay in, go out to a park of their choice, etc. DS and I are going to Studios. We'll try to get a fp for TSM but know the odds aren't with us. If anything we'll window shop, ride Star Tours, maybe see a show....before the Star Wars Fireworks Party (I know it has a real name and that that's not it). I did ask DD and Bestie if they wanted to go to that but was given a big fat NO. So it's a mom and son night! <3 The next day we can sleep in again so no worries on staying out too late.

 

[indyshelley]

Following along! I LOVE the Mickey ice cream tank. Might have to grab one for me and DD. We will be there in June as well!!! So excited. I'm only as far as the ice cream tank so I'm going to keep reading.....

 

[indyshelley]

I was considering using Garden Grocer this trip. I've never done that. We are staying at the Cabins at FW and we plan on using the kitchen. Glad to hear you like it.

 

[Tallent]

Yay! And Welcome!! You're my first reader so you now have a special place in my heart forever!

The tanks really are super cute--they look exactly like the picture! Garden Grocer has never let us down--we've ordered from them for at least 5 trips and they've always delivered what we ordered without any problems. Plus I love getting the text that the order has been delivered--usually while we're on the way to the resort.

 

[Tallent]

June 24 Epcot and Magic Kingdom


No pressure to get up early on this day but I'm sure I'll be up raring to go! Girls and Ds....probably not so much lol.

Our first and only scheduled FP (Test Track!) is scheduled to be used at 11 (10:45-11:45) so we'll either walk over around 10:15ish or boat over. After we use that one we'll make a few Fps for MK later on that night. The plan is just to walk around World Showcase a bit and or return to BC and explore the Boardwalk a bit. The pool will be a must do too! We have a 5:45 adr at Chef Mickey and after that we'll head to MK for a bit and stay till closing. The next day is an early rise day so don't want to stay out too, too late. Plus we'll be back at MK in the morning!

 

[Tallent]

June 25 Back to Magic Kingdom

We have an 8am BOG adr for which I'll have coffee and we'll all share one plate of something. Ultimately we're there just to get a leg up on riding 7DMT without a FP. The glitch is that it's one of those Fantasyland Early Morning hours so we may not the super short line/wait that we want. I'm thinking that it's still worth doing and we can always say we tried.

After riding (fingers crossed) we plan to head over to Pooh, followed by a detour over to the
teacups. If the line isn't long we'll ride dumbo before catching the train to use our first FP. We hope to ride Splash by 10:15 and then head straight over to BTMRR for our next FP starting at 10:25. We'll start to make our way out of Frontier Land and make a stop at either Haunted Mansion or Small World before using our last FP at Peter Pan (11:30-12:30)

Then it'll be time for....

LUNCH WITH SOME FRIENDS!



After the rumblies have been satisfied we'll head out through the shops (I the Emporium!) and then out to do some pool time--and maybe a nap? Who can say... Leaving the night open to see what we want to do--back to MK, EMH at AK, pool and arcade.... Either way we don't have a super early morning planned so we can go where the wind takes us.

 

[Tallent]

June 26 Epcot and Disney Springs

Plan is to leave the room around 8:45 for the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. We have a FP for Soarin' (haven't seen the new version yet) that we plan to use around 10ish. After that we move over to the Nemo ride (10:20-11:20) and to poke around the aquarium areas. We have lunch planned at Coral Reef at 11:50. We'll meander around the countries (gotta stop in Japan for DS!) and then head back for some pool time. DS and I will head to Disney Quest for the last time before it closes--the girls will walk around Disney Springs and we will meet up for an 8pm dinner at T-Rex. We've talked about potentially heading to AK for their EMH if we're up to it.....

 

[Tallent]

June 27 Luxurious Sleep, Typhoon Lagoon, and Studios

The plan for this morning is to sleeeeeeep. And by this I mean sleep till 9. We are going to uber over to Typhoon Lagoon (C'mon water park Fast Passes!!!!) for a few hours. I'm incredibly sad that we can't swim with the sharks this trip. It was always one of my favorite things to do. :-( We rented an umbrella so we'll have a definitive meeting place when we do split up and I'll have a spot for relaxing and maybe reading a bit while the kids ride. I'm good with Crush N'Gusher the lazy river, will try the new Miss ride, and that may be it for me give or take a few larger tube rides that I'm forgeting about.

I really don't want to have our lunch here but guessing we probably will. Last time, ds and I got a few snacks and then when we were done headed over to Disney Springs to have lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express. It was wonderful but the walk there from the bus just about did us in--snappy and dehydrated--no fun at all. If we can a)snack a bit and drink plenty of water, and b) catch an uber to the old DD marketplace bus stop area then we can easily make WPE. We shall see.....

When done, either at WPE or at TL we'll uber back to the room (dried off first) for showers and tv/phone/naps.


We'll head over to Studios to ride TSM using a FP for 5-6, then head over to Mama Melrose for our 5:40 ADR at Mama Melrose. Hopefully our food will digest before heading over to ride Star Tours and then Tower of Terror with Fps. I've never ridden ToT before so this will be interesting. If time is on our side we may head over to catch F!. I really don't care for the story of it and I HATE sitting on those benches (my BACK!!) but there's just something magical to me about seeing all of the characters together on the boat at the end.) Both Epcot and AK have EMH on this night so if anyone is up for it it's a choice and if not we'll hang in the room and get ready for the next day which is another sleep in day. But a real sleep in day this time lol.

 

[Tallent]

June 28 Resort (?) and Magic Kingdom

Today is a true sleep in day. There is nothing on the agenda until the early evening. DS and I may hop over to a park since we are die-hards and well, not teens lol. Ultimately, the only important thing that has to done at some point is to start packing--to the point where we put out what's needed for the next day and everything else put away. But we have no lunch or dinner plans so we will get counter service when hungry. If we don't hop to a park we may try a day trip to Disney Springs for any last minute shopping, and then back to the pool. MK has EMH on this night and we really do want to stay until the very last minute. To get us started though we have our first FP from 6-7 at Buzz, then 7DMT from 7:10-8:10, and then Pirates from 8:15-9:15.

 

[Tallent]

July 29 Last Day Studios and Magic Kingdom

The saddest of all Disney days :-( We will get up early, check our luggage at RAC, store extrees at Bell Services and hustle on over to Studios. Our only Must Do is our first fast pass for RnRC. Another first for me. Not sure if it's wise to leave it to the last day or not but I wanted to book the ones I know we love first vs the ones I'm scared I'll die on lol I don't think I'll like the over the shoulder harness or the upside down nature of the ride but I've heard that the worst part is really the volume of the music.

We may try for one more trip on Star Tours before catching the Express bus over to MK to spend the rest of the day. Our flight is at 9 so figuring a Magical Express pick up around 6--we'll leave MK by/at 5 the latest. Waaaahhh!

 

[Tallent]

Memory Maker Got me like $$

The great minds at WDW got me again--I caved and purchased the memory maker. I was really torn because dd does NOT like stopping for pics--every now and then she'll indulge me but not enough to make the MM worth it if not part of a share. I've done shares before and had no problems but I hadn't found any for my dates. DS will still take happy pics of character meets and I LOVE the balloon pic at DHS. There are a few girls from dd's vball team who will be at the parks the same first two days we are there. She'll most likely hook up with them and I'll give them the MM clue and hopefully they'll be in and take a bunch of goofball pictures together.

 

[Tallent]

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